Collecting Trek

A TOS collection 40 years in the making

Franklin Mint’s 25th anniversary Enterprise

The Franklin Mint 25th anniversary Enterprise is not the most accurate model. That would be the big Polar Lights studio-scale model. But the Franklin Mint ship is mostly correct and it’s certainly beautiful.

It is a metal model, and quite heavy. It’s missing some black accents, like on the nacelles, and overall it’s too light in colour, more white than the light grey-blue of the real model. But the proportions and shapes are all correct, the nacelles are nicely in line with the ship (even more than 25 years after it was manufactured), and the shuttlecraft stored at the back of the secondary hull is nicely detailed but obviously too large. My favourite bit is that the top of the bridge comes off, revealing the tiny consoles and chairs within.

I own many Enterprises but this was one of my first high-end collectibles and it holds a special place for me.

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2 responses to “Franklin Mint’s 25th anniversary Enterprise”

  1. I have the same model ( the 25th Anniversary release ) and over the years I’ve come to believe that the sculptor used the “Star Trek Blueprints” set drawn by Franz Joseph Schnaubelt and released by Ballantine Books in 1974 as their reference. Specific giveaways are the detailing in the inner trenches of the warp nacelles, the shape of the engineering hull, the slightly smaller saucer size, the contour on the underside of the saucer, the grid pattern on the main pylon, the shape of the bridge and the shape of the second and third decks below. Although everything on the model may not be an exact match, If you look at the first few sheets of the blueprint set, the contours and detailing are very, very close. Another clue is that in the color advertising brochure for the model, it is advertised as being designed using the “actual blueprints’ ( IIRC ). Still, it’s a beautiful piece that I’m happy I bought.

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